Sense of Self
by seasaltmemories
Summary: Despite these truths, Serena had never felt less comfortable in her identity-less self as she had before.


Serena valued herself in being pragmatic and realistic. Even since she was young she had always had a knack for developing strategies and knowing what to do when backed in a corner. It was her source of pride, being able to play the faceless soldier and elite warrior. Her identity was whatever was needed for the situation, and she couldn't understand why the others found that strange.

For all they found odd about her, they were the strange bunch in her eyes. Seriously nobody in the Duel Academia had acted anywhere close to this. Sakaki and Sawatari got into stupid arguments at the same, annoying frequency. And then that Gongenzaka fellow gave up his _cards_ for a few strangers. To a warrior they were more valuable then gold and diamonds, and he just threw them away a s if they were trash.

Serena's never been a people's persona and she's never claimed she was. The most quality social interactions she got with kids her age was beating them in dueling. She knows she doesn't completely understand camaraderie and all that emotional crap that comes easily to the others. Still they treat her like some sadist and it rubs her the wrong way. With the truth about the Academia now out to her, of course she can understand that stereotype, but when has she shown glee from hurting others?

They just all expect her to act in a certain way and she can't understand why. Tsukikage one day randomly asked her how she could move on from her original mission when she sided with Fusion. (They had broken the code of honor they had installed into her from a young age. Attacking innocents was despicable, only a monster or someone ignorant like her would stay with that.) Kurosaki was surprised by her aggressive nature during duels, and when she confronted him about the weird looks he confessed Ruri had always played defensively, waiting for the right moment to strike. (How can he make that mistake? She barely speaks to him. And besides considering her background it wouldn't make sense to have that style.)

But what riles her up the most is the little slip up's Sakaki makes. When he catches her outside the corner of his eye, occasionally he'll call her "Yuzu" before quickly correcting himself. It's a logical mistake but that's not the most of it. When she gets rough or shows her brilliantly horrible social skills, he seems to be the most surprised. Barely anyone else catches it, but she knows he's always making strange faces when he notices something about her, most likely comparing the two girls that share the same face. (I know it is confusing but I am not Hiragi. She was strong but so different from me. Likely no one broke down at my absence, unless they were mourning the lost of a pawn.)

She remembers Reiji explaining that for some reason across the four dimensions there were four girls and four boys that looked scarily alike. There were always similarities, with the boy being close to the girl and both parties having trouble functioning without the other. For some reason things had not been like that at Fusion. She remembers a strong warrior named Yuri that sounded similar to Sakaki but they never spoke. They were nothing to each other, not the objects of each other's affections as in Synchro, loyal comrades as in XYZ, or the confusing mixture of the two as in Standard. All these others had similarities but in every regard she was the odd one out, neither kind nor motherly. Had there been a mistake when it came their turn or were they just defective clones?

Serena bit her tongue at that thought. So what things were different for her? She needed to move on and grow up. Even if they could change the past, what use would it be to stopping Leo?

Despite these truths, Serena had never felt less comfortable in her identity-less self as she had before.

* * *

 **A.N. Wow Serena is so much fun to write, maybe because she keeps so much locked up inside herself and seems able to handle anything, or maybe because she is so vastly different from the Yuzu squad (Or at least the headcanons when it comes to Ruri).**


End file.
